The present invention relates to an electronic card connector with pushing assembly for two-stage operation, and more particularly, to a connector providing an electronic card to be inserted by pushing the electronic card at the first stage and ejected at the second stage.
In recently years, various types of electronic cards have been applied to electronic products such as cellular phones, digital cameras, personal digital assistants. For example, the compact flash (CF) card, multimedia card (MMC) and secure digital (SD) card have been very commonly seen. Consequently, connectors which provide connection and positioning between the electronic cards and the electronic products have been developed, such that electric connection and data communication between the electronic cards and the electronic products can be established. However, as frequent insertion and ejection operations of the electronic cards are inevitable, endurance is highly demanded by the connectors to sustain iterative operations.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional electronic card connector. The connector allows an electronic card 4 to be pushed and plugged therein. The connector includes an insulating body 1, a shielding shell 2 and a pushing assembly 3. The shielding shell 2 is placed on top of the insulating body 1 to provide shielding effect. The insulating body 1 includes a base 10 with a first arm 11 and a second arm 12 stretching perpendicularly from two opposing ends of the base 10. The base 10, the first arm 11 and the second arm 12 construct a space 13 for receiving the electronic card 4. As shown in FIG. 1a, a one-way track 14 may be formed on the base 10 at the end where the second arm 12 stretches from. The one-way track 14 includes a forwarding portion 141, a positioning portion 142, and a returning portion 143 to form a loop, allowing a downward bending head 321 of a guide lever 32 to perform one-way movement therein. Adjacent to and circumscribed by the one-way track 14 is a positioning block 144. The positioning block 144 has a first side surface, a second side surface and a third side surface contoured with the forwarding portion 141, the positioning portion 142, and the returning portion 143, respectively. That is, the first side surface of the positioning block 144 extends along the forwarding portion 141 and terminates with a second side surface contoured with a recess, such that the downward bending head 321 approaching the end of the forwarding portion 141 will rest on the recess 145. The third side surface of the positioning block 144 has a first part parallel to the first side surface, and a second part bent to merge with the first side surface. The pushing assembly 3 includes a spring 30, a slide member 31 and the guide lever 32. One end of the spring 30 is mounted to the second arm 12, while the other end of the spring 30 is connected to the slide member 31. Therefore, the slide member 31 can move along the elongate direction of the second arm 12. The movement of the slide member 31 is actuated by insertion or ejection of the electronic card 4 in and out of the space 13. Further, the end of guide lever 32 is connected to the slide member 31 to be driven thereby. Therefore, when the electronic card 4 is pushed and inserted into the space 13, the lever head 321 is pushed to move towards the end of the forwarding portion 141. After reaching the end of the forwarding portion 141, by the force exerting from the spring 30, the lever head 321 is withdrawn to move into the positioning portion 142. The recessed structure of the positioning portion 142 then hooks the lever heat 321 on the recess 145. In this way, the electronic card 4 is properly positioned in the connector. By pushing the electronic card 4 towards the connector again, the lever head 321 is pushed away from the recess 145 towards the returning portion 143. By the restoring force exerting from the spring 122a, the lever head 321 moves along the returning portion 143 to generate an ejecting force against the electronic card 4. The electronic card 4 can thus be ejected from the connector.
The iterative insertion and ejection operations of the electronic card 4 generate friction between the lever head 321 and the one-way track 14 of the insulating body 1. As the guide lever 32 is typically fabricated from metal material, the abrasion thereon is even more serious. Particularly, the turning point 146 of the forwarding portion 141 and the positioning portion 142 is most easily abraded. Once the turning point 146 of the forwarding portion 141 and the positioning 142 is seriously abraded, a smooth or normal operation of insertion and ejection of the electronic card 4 will be seriously affected.
The present invention provides an improved electronic card connector structure with pushing assembly for two-stage operation. Therefore, the abrasion and damage of the insulating body and the pushing assembly can be greatly suppressed to provide a smooth insertion and ejection operation and increase lifetime of the connector.
The connector provided by the present invention comprises an insulating body, a shielding member and a pushing assembly. The insulating body includes a base, and an elongate first arm and an elongate second arm extending perpendicularly from two ends of the base. A one-way track with a forwarding portion, a positioning portion, and a returning portion is consecutively formed on the first arm. The first arm and the second arm construct an open space for receiving the electronic card. The shielding member which covers the insulating body includes a spring leaf with a recessed rail corresponding to the forwarding portion. The free end of the spring leaf is bent to the forwarding portion and forms a tilt toward the positioning portion. The pushing assembly includes a resilient member, a slide member and a guide lever. One end of the resilient member is mounted to the first arm and the other end thereof connected to the slide member. The guide lever is pivotably connected to the slide member at one end thereof and has a first protrusion and a second protrusion at the other end thereof for slidably moving in the one-way track and the recessed rail, respectively. As such, when the electronic card is inserted, the second protrusion is guided by the tilt to rest in the positioning portion; and when the electronic card is ejected, the first protrusion is guided in the returning portion back to the forwarding portion.